Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He's just skin and bones. We need to get a new light the other one burned out but what about him not eating? His heat rock is rocking fine. Quite frankly we don't know much about this lizard. He's in an approx. 20 gallon aquarium. We had him out in the game room which is not connected to the house. It's insulated but no heat or air. We are in South Louisiana so we're not cold, although it does it cold sometimes. He's now inside and we are trying to feed him. He did eat a little piece of lettuce. He has crickets in his cage but he wouldn't eat them. He does spray him with the electrolites and vitamins.

I really believe that son was just not feeding him enough. Ran out of crickets (didn't tell me). He really just hasn't been taking very good care of him is what I believe the problem is. BUT all of that aside. What can we do to get him back to health other than force feeding him? Any miracle weight gain formula for him? Son thought he was hibernating and wouldn't eat much. Of course, I took over at this point.

Son just informed me that he got him to eat 5 crickets today. He did have to open his mouth and put them in. At least he didn't spit them out this time.

Can we get the basics on caring for this lizard? I always thought he was kind of skinny since we got him but now he's really in bad shape. We have been having the lizard for about 7 months. We have always been able to see the bones at the top of his tail. He just never looked plump and healthy.

Any quick tips?

another question. About how many crickets should he eat in a day. How often should we feed him pink mice? Should he eat lettuce, if so, how much?

thank in advance.

oh dear, we'll try to help!
first do you have his basking temps at 110ish? and is the back ground temp near the high 80's and lower 90s? does he have a UVB light or just a light bulb for basking?
has he ever been treated for parasites? usually if they are skinny they have them.
lettuce as in iceberg will not do much for the lizard,some collareds will take leafy greens but they really enjoy their bugs. do you all ever supplement the bugs? calcium a couple times a week and a vitamin supplement once a week? also if he has no access to UVB he will properly absorb the calcium so it would be useless for him.
read melissa kaplan's page anapsid.org
and the fancy collared lizard page, i think it is collaredlizard.com
i think a trip to a good reptile vet is in order
please continue to ask questions, we don't like it when our little scaley friends are sick
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Thanks for the quick response. I think first off we are killing him by freezing him to death according to your temps. ( I'm surprised that he has survived this long. Can he put him out in the sun for now for an hour or so? Would that be a good emergency treatment until we get the lights? We are in LA. It's hot today.

I will try to get out today to get all of the required bulbs that you mentioned. We have been spraying him daily with the electrolite and vitamin spray. Is this too often?

So how many crickets should he be eating and what other kinds of bugs should he eat? Son was feeding him gheckos but I think they are now hibernating.

So any quick treatments other than the temp and light? When he was out in the game room it was hot in there so I would have thought that he would have had perfect temps. He was also by a window with natural light. Maybe that's the problem now? It gets cooler at night so he's getting too cold. I feel so bad that we don't have more knowledge of these animals. We ARE willing to learn.

We have no reptile vet. I don't know about the parasites. We bought him from a pet store. Wouldn't they have treated him? Can we buy something to treat him ourselves since we don't have a reptile vet?

if you have some sort of container that will let sunshine through unfiltered that would be a great thing for him. if the sun has to go through glass or plastic the UVB will get filtered from it. if you don't have something like that but just want to get him a little warmer then i think that would be ok. also you have to be careful that it does not get too hot in the cage. the heat will just sort of stay in the cage

i am not sure about the electrolite spray. i have never used one. i just drip water onto their rocks a couple times a week and they decide from there if they want to drink it

the number of crickets depends on the size of the cricket and the lizard. my guys when it is summer time eat like 12 large crickets each, but in the winter their appetites drop alot and they probably eat 5-8 crickets. i try to feed them every day but if there are a few crickets from the day before, i will not feed them for a day

for parasites there is parazap, it is available online only, i think. i have never used it but there are lots of people on here who like it alot. just google the word parazap and it should pop up

we all do crazy things with our first lizards, but becoming educated shows that you do care about your lizard.

the uvb lights are kind of pricy but really worth it. to help cut down on costs, for the basking light, go to walmart or home depot and buy a halogen floodlight and one of their clamp lamps, it is much cheaper then the pet store bulbs. you might have to play around with the wattage to get the best temps, maybe start with a 50 or 60 watt.(everything depends on the set up) also buy an indoor outdoor digital thermometer. put the outside part under the basking spot and put the inside part of the other end of the cage to see what type of temp gradient you are getting. also he will need to be within 12 inches of the UVB for it to work properly. in one of my cages i have a box they can climb up on and it puts them within 8 inches of the UVB
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Right now my son is looking for a combo cover with basking light and uvb light. It'll be his Christmas present.

Do you feed pinkies to your lizard? If so how many and how often?

I think a lot of the problem is the lighting and heat. Hopefully after we get all of that straightened up, he'll feel better.

Son says that he's looking better since he is outside in the sun.

The poor lizard. I hope that we can plump him up soon.

I saw a picture posted below that says something like "twice" as pretty when she's sleeping". Is that a she? I thought ours was a he and he has the same coloring.

thanks again for all of the info and for not blasting us for being terrible lizard parents.

Health of the lizards :0)

Vonnie gave you good advice. With proper HEATINF temperatures and UV light and good food, they usually do well in captivity!

Remember to FEED your crickets and all bugs well also, That is how lizards get their nutrution from how well the bugs are fed.

The yellow female pic below is mine, and she is called a yellowhead, the males are simular usually MORE colorful, but some females are just as pretty.

You can sex you collared easily by looking underneath at the vent area (top of tail area, the slit) Below are some BIG and easy to distinguish pics of what each sex looks like.

Hope your guy PERKS right up, love em healthy and SPUNKY around here. Keep the questions coming if ya have any!
Sexing collareds BIG VENT pics :0)

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Eve / PHEve

thanks for the site. He appears to be a male. Poor guy is so skinny and dehydrated looking that it's hard to tell.

I will go to the pet store and try to find a hood that has the two lights needed.

Is crickets the best thing to feed him right now? I saw that someone mentioned worms. We did buy some stuff called gut-load for the crickets. Should we keep the crickets separate from the lizard when we buy them? We usually buy 20 and just throw all of them in the cage. Not a good idea? If it's better to keep them separated, what's the best type of housing to keep them in? Wood, plastic, screen?

Do I sound like a newby at this? I am. My son did research but I think he really forgot about the poor critter once he couldn't catch gheckos to feed to him. Speaking of gheckos is that a good thing to feed to him?

Is it too late for this guy? He really is a bag of bones.

I personally would not spent the high amount for the COMBO light, I was talked into it years ago by the store, being new I bought it. I find them a waste, I also find them to be very heavy to have to lift everytime you want to get into the tank.

Its everyones own chioce but I got rid of mine as soon as I could, when I was more into lizards.
A dome light for basking, can be purchased at walmart kmart, home depot for under 8.00 dollars, then you can buy a strip light seperate also at home depot, and get a good reptisun 5.0 UV flouresant tube bulb to fit inside. The reptisun 5.0 UV bulb will have to be bought at a pet shop or online.

Crickets can be kept in a rubbermaid tub , can cut a square into the plastic lid and hot glue or TAPE screening to it, for Air circulation

And I would throw left over greens, carrots, orange slices potato slices, dried dog or cat food, things like that in with the crickets to eat. MUCH more nutrutious.

And No I would not buy 20 crickets at a time and throw them in with the lizard. Bad idea for several reasons.
One being they torture the lizard biting him the whole time he is asleep. They are canibals they eat each other and will bite him for food.

Second, he will not eat them all at once which means they may have not eaten in days and so when he eats THEM hes also getting NOTHING, no nutrition at all, like eating an empty shell.

Keep crickets seperate in "anything" that they can't climb out of, and FEED them WELL This insures you your collared is being feed well too!

He is what he eats, if hes eating STARVING BUGS, what is he getting, ya know!
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Eve / PHEve

Heres one choice, the Dome is for heating, the strip light is your UV flouresant light to protect against Metabolic bone diease, they have to have the UV light

These would do fine for your 20 gallon tank.

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Eve / PHEve

Thank you for the picture. This is the light that we have but we don't have a second light. His has some starter on it and he needs a new one. I thought it would probably be cheaper just to get a new light fixture with a bulb or do they all need the starter?

It helps to see how others set up their lizard's homes.

Also, if you usually forgot to turn on/off the lighting, a timer can be bought for around 7$ at home depot or another hardware store.

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Collaredkeeper

I am using a flourescent light labeled "Natural Sunlight" with a rating of 96 (100 being the sun). I know this light is used from people suffering from S.A.D.D. in Alaska. (2 hours a day for humans) The lizards loved it. Is it working?
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-Nicole

2.1.0 collared lizards
2.0.0 side-blotched lizards
1.0.0 desert tarantula
small tropical fishes

I have one of those lights as well, however they are not a sufficient source of UVB (if any at all), merely a broader spectrum of light waves, which do help mind you (I use it for my chameleons) for the same reasons is helps humans... It simultes many of the wavelengths of daylight, but not the UVB component. You need a UVB light for that (recommend ZooMed's ReptiSun 5.0). They are not too costly online (anywhere between $14-26 depending on who hs a sale & when). Good Luck.
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1.1 Crazy dogs (Sandy & Gizmo)
1.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee & Mikey)
1.1 Veiled Chameleons (Charlie & Emma)
0.1 Collard Lizard (Jimmie)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Lily)
0.0.1 AWOL Leopard Gecko (Eddie)
0.1 Amazing Fiance =o)

Thanks again. I started a new thread up there because I bounced back and forth on the computers and got myself lost. I found myself reading the same posts over and over and missing the new ones because of the switching. I'm going to Lafayette tomorrow, maybe I can find a reptile vet there. I may bring him along but I really don't have a way to keep him warm. I guess I could always leave him in the car that would be pretty warm for him.

Now I'm off to find the name of that para??? stuff for parasites that someone mentioned.

as with any animal, just don't let him bake in the car. perhaps you could call around before you left? usually if you call one vet and they don't specialize in reptiles they can tell you someone who does.
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Thanks everyone. Y'all have been very helpful. I hope it isn't too late for the lizard.

Could he be lonely too? I noticed that he kept going to his reflection in the glass. I sent my boys to the Pet store. He came back with a screen cover and a Day Glo Daylight Lamp Bulb 100W It's a desert & tropical Terrarium Lamp. Is this the right bulb for the basking? Son told the owner what he needed and those are the two items that he gave him.

It says on the bulb box: $9.79

BRoad spectrum daylight bulb for terrariums
Creats heat gradients for thermo-regulation.
Increases ambient air temperature
Stimulates natural behaviour through UVA rays
Can be combined with Night Glo or Heat Glo for 24h cycle.

So what else do we need? Do I still need a bulb that prduces UVB rays or is this all I need?

I appreciate the time that y'all are taking to answer my questions. I'm just glad that I found this site.

Oh and he also came back with a stick on humidity and temp. thing. NOT what I told him to get but I guess when you have an adult telling you that this is what you need a kid listens to the store owner.

Good, humidity is deffinitely a factor. It should be between 40-60. As for the UVB...

YES. You need it. That is what ended up making me female so sick- Lack of UVB cause her to get MBD and have seizures.
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Amanda ^_^

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~Alfred A. Montapert

Your story is identical to mine. Well not identical, but awfully close. At least you got help quickly. Everyone has told you the basics, as much as they can. If things don't shape up, a vet is wise. Trust me, I know this from experience now. If he stops eating, baby food through a syringe works.

Sadly my story has a sad ending- my lizard had to be put to sleep. But this guy sounds like he's shaping up already, good luck and please keep us updated.
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Amanda ^_^

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~Alfred A. Montapert

Sorry about your lizard.

I don't know if I'm getting help soon enough. He's still active but I put him on his branch so that he could be close to his basking light and he only stayed there for a few seconds. He got down as soon as I turned away (like he was waiting for me to quit looking). He mostly just crawls under his dish (used as a cave). We have his heat rock under the dish.

Ok, one more thing that the store owner told him was that he should put calcium powder on all of the crickets that he eats. Is this too much?

I wish that I would have come here sooner because I think the pet store owner may be giving us conflicting information.

No one has said anything about feeding the lizard pink mice. We bought some to feed to him. Is that a good thing? Would it be too hard for him to digest since he's not healthy? Any tips on the pinkies would really be helpful.

Thanks again!

It's okay, my Novia is in a better place, let's focus on your buddy.

Pinkies are good for large, healthy, full grown collareds. I wouldn't try it yet. Just recently was I able to move my Tobias off of baby food and back onto solid crickets via forceps. Crickets should be dusted with a calcium and vitamin power once a week, or every other feeding or so. Too much can cause MBD, as well as too little.

Don't worry about him not being right under the UVB- as long as he is no more than 12 inches away from it he will benifit.

PERSONALLY, I would also remove his substrate and replace it with paper towels. Any parasites or bugs in his stool will stick around in his substrate and continue to make him more ill. Speaking of stool, you should deffinitely have a sample tested.
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Amanda ^_^

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~Alfred A. Montapert

We don't have a reptile vet to check out that kind of stuff. Son just informed me that Houston's (lizard's name) stool was watery at least he thinks it's his stool. Do they urinate too? Yesterday I noticed firm stools in his cage.

Ok, we will remove the stuff we just put in and put in paper towels instead. Today he put in some paper kind of bedding that we use for the hampster. Guess we need to remove that?

What kind of baby food? I guess this means that we should stop opening his mouth and putting in crickets? Son did get him to eat 5 crickets today.

Were you using wood shavings?! BAD. BAD BAD BAD. He might have impaction, due to ingesting those shavings. You should use some sort of calci-sand of playsand, but paper towels will work for now.

They do urinate- when healthy, it comes out attached as a white substance on their poo. (Kind of like birds)
The watery substance could have been urine or he may have vomitted, check for white.

Any vet should be able to look at a stool sample. Before I found my exotics vet (20 minutes away, mind you) we went to bird and small pet hospital. He was able to do a stool test and found an abnormal amount of coccidia.

Baby food, try beef. It's meat, and it has the most calories, vitamins, minerals, etc. When I was using the baby food, I also mixed in a small amount of calcium powder and vitamins.
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Amanda ^_^

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~Alfred A. Montapert

The "vitamin and electrolyte spray" would do more good for the lizard if it was sprayed on his food, not on the lizard. How many vitamins do you spray on YOUR skin, which is more permeable than the lizard's? The spray is one of those things a pet store will sell you, because they need to sell things to stay in business.

Speaking of pet stores, I know of no pet store which treats its reptiles for parasites before sale. I've also not seen very healthy collared lizards for sale in a pet store. Many of the collareds in pet stores are wild-caught vs. captive-bred and so have "been through the wringer" so to speak.

The heat rock isn't the optimum heat source for the lizard; get a strong incandescent light and monitor the temps beneath it.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

there will be a test tomorrow, lol

yes i agree that the heat rock my not be the best thing. those can break without us knowing and burn the lizard

just to correct something that was said, calci-sand is not good for a lizard but repti-sand is, sometimes people get the names confused. calci-sand is too large and causes impactions. play sand is good also and not nearly as expensive.

i have used cricket food before and it has to have some value, but "table scraps" are so much cheaper.

pet stores will sell you anything regardless of its quality or danger. i try to do things as cheaply as possible while still keeping it it healthy for the lizards.

watery poo can be a sign of certain parasites. the parazap might be helpful with that since no one can see your lizard. try calling around, maybe someone will try
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

Yeah, calci = bad.
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Amanda ^_^

"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to." ~Alfred A. Montapert

It sounds like most everything has been covered, but I do want to emphasize one point: don't combine a basking light with a hot rock. The light can overheat the already warm hot rock and it may burn the lizard. If you do want to keep the hot rock (not that I recommend them--I don't), move it far away from the basking light.

I like Amanda's suggestion about the beef flavored baby food, too (I used canned cat/dog food, but it's similar). I'd offer it to Houston with a bit of extra calcium powder and vitamins mixed in. Put it in a syringe and allow him lick it from the tip of the syringe. Force feeding crickets is pretty traumatic, but this is easy on the lizards. The baby food will give him an extra boost. Even if he's eating crickets on his own I'd still do it for a while for the added nutrition and calories.

I believe if Houston is alive then he still has a chance. Don't give up on him. I've seen some survive when I thought they couldn't live another day.

élan
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1.1.0 Collareds
1.0.0 Mali Uromastix
0.0.1 Butterfly Agama
1.0.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Chinese Dwarf Newt
2.0.0 California Newts
0.0.1 White's Treefrog
0.0.1 Fire bellied toad
0.0.1 American Bullfrog
0.0.1 Midland Brown Snake
1.1.0 Felines
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